


The Kids Are Alright

by pandora_findings



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Body Horror, Body Worship, Bodyswap, F/F, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Guilt, Implied/Referenced Cheating, M/M, Multi, Requited Unrequited Love, Unrequited Love, War, am i sorry?, no
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:07:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23138173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandora_findings/pseuds/pandora_findings
Summary: Adrien knows that he should know better.  He knows that Ladybug doesn't love him, but the way Marinette looks at him?  That just might do.For now, anyway.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste & Chloé Bourgeois & Alya Césaire & Marinette Dupain-Cheng & Nino Lahiffe, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Plagg, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Chloé Bourgeois/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Tikki
Kudos: 15





	The Kids Are Alright

**Author's Note:**

> Uh if you're reading this, I'm sorry. 
> 
> This takes place sometime after Chat Blanc, but not in exact accordance with canon or fanon - I've watched up until the Sentimonsters attack the streets of Paris, so have fun with any of my canonical inaccuracies.
> 
> A forewarning now; I read a fic once where it was body horror for the two heroes of Paris - Ladybug was literally turning into a ladybug, losing her humanity, and the same for Chat. It was,,, brilliant and I wanted more and I didn't get more and I'm over that sadness now but it's now my turn to give y'all the Sad. 
> 
> soo,, am I sorry?
> 
> No.
> 
> And "Aren't the tags misleading"? maybe. "They don't even get together in this!" you say, but don't they? Who knows. Certainly not you ;)
> 
> Suffer.

To be fair, it truly had been a mistake the first time. He'll tell that to anyone who would listen, but he really doesn't know if anyone's around to hear anymore.

Everything took on a strange tone after Chat Blanc.

He knows that he shouldn't remember. And he doesn't. Most of it, at least.

But there is only so much one love-deprived teenage boy can do in a big, empty mansion late at night, and sleep has had him tossing, itching, scratching at his face so hard that it is not the screams of Ladybug which wake him any more. This time? Plagg called out, through the mask and suit clinging tight to him in his sleep, and he couldn't help but to oblige his kwami.

"What time is it?" He asks with a groan. Plagg rolls his tiny eyes in the back of his skull, "Hey, quit it," and Adrien soon knows it's nearing three in the morning. A Sunday, jam packed with a new modeling gig for a friend-of-a-friend's son's fashion line, an hour at the gym, multiple facial treatments, and a fitting for the event scheduled with some famous chef the next week. All very exciting. All very incredibly far from a second-story open window and the dead-of-night city of Paris.

"No thank you," He mouths with a chuckle, and grabs for his baton as his free hand pushes the window open.

-

There is a certain softness in the way Marinette Dupain-Cheng scowls at him when he lands on her patio, and he smirks when her hand comes down onto his nose - only to reach for his forehead instead. Warm and clammy, it pushes against the fluff there, displacing it to get to his skin. Adrien watches her face for a moment - the tilt in her head, the way her mouth goes from a downed point to a straight line and into the lightest of smiles - and listens to his friend as she reaches for her cup of steaming hot cocoa and happily exclaims, "No fever, kitty."

He stands there, staring for a long moment. He's saying something about how his purrincess should check him again, and he's moving into a cowardly pose, draping himself over the railing like a damsel in distress, declawed and feline-fine, but Adrien's lips are locked tight. Plagg's hiss echoes in his head, and his vision goes blurry for a moment.

When he looks back up, Ladybug is leaning over him, shouting and grimacing.

"Princess?" She looks confused for a moment, wide-eyed, but keeps her hands on his arm. He looks, seeing red covering the black-most parts of his lady's hands, and jerks his body off of the ground to sit up. "Ladybug, we need to get you-" She covers his mouth the same second he hears a loud blaring, the loudest siren he's ever heard, and a laugh one can only attribute to Hawkmoth's creations. Ladybug quirks a brow, a plea? He's seen that look on her before, where has he- She mouths some words, Don't talk? And she gestures to his right arm, where a large chunk of his suit has been ripped open, rendered a mangled mess of skin and blood.

Her hands find his, warm and thick and gloriously like hers-, and press them over the wound with pressure. She looks him in the eye, waits for him to nod, and then she's running away from him, back into the fray. He can hear the others, Queen Bee and Vixen and another he doesn't remember. Their heartbeats and footsteps line up, the flutter of Queen Bee's wings the only sound he can focus on over the constant berating of his ears. They might be bleeding by now, if it weren't for the convenient earplugs occupying them. Ladybug had gotten to the Akuma before him, and came back to him before he could transform, presenting them with concerns about his possible hearing loss, of all things.

He can't help it when the tears come, the aching, gnawing, tearing at his heart similar to his legs, the bones nearly showing their white selves. It's a sound-based Akuma; why the hell is it such a pain in the ass?

-

“Do you ever want to give it up?” He’s shaken out of his daze by the question. Adrien feels his brow quirk, mouth open for a quirky response, and so he waits for it. But nothing comes out. He scans his brain for a response, eyes looking up to the stars in thought. Marinette stays next to him, looking up at the same night sky, a pink blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

He swallows around a stammer to ask, “Give what up?”

And she only looks at him through her peripheral for a split second before she looks back to the sky, but it’s clear what she means.

His claws tap against the metal railing as he keeps thinking of which way to word it. He rolls his right shoulder, flexes the muscles on the side facing away from Marinette, and clears his throat.

There’s a long stretch of silence, the sound of the city nightlife the only noise between the two. A few cars are on the roads, the sound of their wheels against the road a distant lull for Chat. The sound of a few closing doors and hushed voices are picked up by his enhanced ears, though he can’t pick out any words.

He coughs up nothing again, and taps at the railing a few more times before he begins to answer. He knows there isn’t a way to lie to her.

“More than anything.” It’s barely a whisper, but the effect is immediate.

She lays her hand over his, and he looks to her to find wet bluebell eyes and a light smile across her face. She shuffles closer into him, and uses one hand to press his head into the nook of her neck, while the other brings his hand behind her, then snakes her arm around his waist.

The warmth chokes a gasp out of him, and his mouth stammers, voice quivering as Chat tries to find a response. He needs something dreadful, something snarky and smooth to get out of this, this isn’t like Chat, but he can’t grasp for anything. A wrecked sob manages to get out before his head goes numb.

-

Adrien’s tired. As usual, his father’s been tossing him around like a ragdoll, building him up for the business, and he still has patrol and school. If only you were still homeschooled, the rational side of him screeches. It’s too late to regret anything, and he has Nino and Alya, so he really can’t, can he?

The words in front of him are blurry, so he tries to focus his eyes to see his notes better. He can feel Plagg shuffling around somewhere, but it isn’t in his bag. He’s tempted to look around the room to see where his Kwami’s gotten off to, but his leg won’t stop jumping and he needs to focus on one single thing at a time, so the notes it is.

He listens well enough to the lecture to finish his notes by the time the bell rings, but he’ll have to double check them later. He might have time to check them before patrol, or during a bathroom break, or sit out on fencing feigning a pulled muscle to be able to study. And he might be able to wedge a nap in during patrol with Ladybug as a pillow, or during hair and makeup for the quick commercial rehearsal his father wants done after school.

Adrien’s standing and putting his backpack together, lost in thought, when a hand lands on his shoulder. He jumps with a shriek and a “Dude, what the Hell?”

An automatic response; Nino bursts out laughing. Adrien grimaces and pats his shirt down as he picks up his backpack that's fallen in the commotion. With a loud zip, he glares at Nino as his friend clutches his stomach and heaves for breath.

“What do you want?” He grumbles out, tossing his pack over his shoulder. Nino heaves out one last laugh and stands up straight with a wide grin. Adrien watches Alya and Marinette walking down the steps towards them as Nino speaks.

“Calm down bro! I just wanted to see how you were doin’. You look really tired my man!” Adrien deadpans. Nino chuckles, and opens his mouth to speak again when Alya smiles wide behind him and screams into his ear. He yelps and bumps himself into Adrien.

Alya winks, and Adrien watches as even Marinette laughs.

Nino shouts as Alya ducks around the three of them and down the steps. "Get back here, you ass!"

“Payback, Lahiffe!” She shouts behind her as she races out of their classroom, Nino hot on her tail.

“Well,” He comments, and Marinette stares at him for a quick moment before her face goes bright red.

“Haha, yeah they get like this a lot, I mean, you know that, obviously, you’re a classmate of ours too! I mean, I just meant that, uh- Well, I- You-You’re tired, right?” She mutters, and Adrien smiles. She’s always so excitable during the day. So different to how she is when he visits her at night.

He nods, and gestures with his hand to the door. “Walk with me?” Marinettes eyes go wide. “Just ‘till I get to fencing?” Her face is still red, and she hasn’t given an answer yet, but he chuckles and walks past her with a smile.

Soon enough, he hears her footsteps behind him, and Plagg’s presence moves along with them as they make their way out.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed :>
> 
> If you enjoyed the style of writing here, you might enjoy a little more at: https://www.fiverr.com/pandorartn/write-your-fanfiction-dreams - I don't have as much time available to write anymore, and this opens up that opportunity for me. I hope you stick around for any future fics I write ;)


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